The first and largest of the two fires began around 1:30 p.m. at an apartment complex on Marks and Dakota. At least three apartments are heavily damaged in one of the buildings inside this complex the fire grew so fast, 13 of the city's 20 fire fighting units responded.
Thick gray smoke billowed out of the roof as flames quickly moved through the attic in an apartment building. "It looked like the top was on fire real heavy."
Enedino Grijalva was inside watching TV when neighbors began warning each other about the fire. "I was inside when some dude came running to the door and said the apartments were on fire." Enedino rushed his 80-year-old mother out of their apartment as the fire spread.
Investigators are following tips that children playing in the area may have started the fire. "It's too early to tell. We do have an investigator here that's going to be looking into those reports and see if they turn anything up," Battalion Chief Rich Cabral said.
Meanwhile, a garage caught fire around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon at a home a few blocks east of Roeding Park. The response here only left the city with two units ready for other calls.
This fire was particularly dangerous because of what is stored in the garage. "We have significant amounts of ammunition that was firing off as the crews first arrived on scene," Battalion Chief Chuck Tobias said.
An electrical line running to the house also caught fire and dropped onto the property but the fire here was quickly extinguished.
Because fire fighters were tied up, they were unable to respond to medical calls leaving ambulances to respond alone for about an hour.
Action News was told that one fire fighter was injured and taken to the hospital with a strain injury to his knee.
